Honore de Balzac 
Gaudissart II 

It is sometimes difficult to know who most deserves our judgement.Do we look down more upon a shop owner for inventing a royal backstory for one of his items – or is the customer who believes the story even worse?Set in 19th century Paris, Honore de Balzac’s short story sees an English woman looking to buy a shawl in a shop.The owner sees a chance to con a foreigner by claiming the shawl was once owned by Empress Josephine, once the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.Will she buy the story – and the shawl?Named after Felix Gaudissart, a travelling salesman who appears in other Balzac tales, ‘Gaudissart II’ demonstrates Blazac’s skills as he portrays greed, dishonesty, and gullibility to perfection.’Gaudissart II’ will delight any reader familiar with Balzac’s body of work. –